[Coco] New! Cassette to floppies

[Bob Devries]

Robert,
I'm beginning to wonder whether you have in fact ever tried these PEEKs? You 
may argue forever what the disassembly seems to say, but from my experience 
(which is from when the coco first came out in 1981), I have been using 
these with complete success.

This also agrees with the book "500 PEEKS POKES n EXECS" by Kishore 
Santwani.
--
Regards, Bob Devries, Dalby, Queensland, Australia

Isaiah 50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me
the capacity to be his spokesman,
so that I know how to help the weary.

website: http://www.home.gil.com.au/~bdevasl
my blog: http://bdevries.invigorated.org/

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Gault" <robert.gault at worldnet.att.net>
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 12:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] New! Cassette to floppies


> OK, I found the CSAVEM routine which is in Extended Basic at $8322, not in 
> Basic (above $A000) as I originally thought. The routine still uses 
> cassette blocks of 255 bytes in length. The write loop is at $834D where 
> blocks of 255 bytes are written until all data is sent. This means that 
> normally save ml programs will be in multi-block cassette format.
>
> The CLOADM routine is at $A4FE. There is a loop at $A52E in which blocks 
> of 255 bytes are read. Each new block overwrites the CBUFAD at $7E until 
> the full file is read. Each block read calls GETBLK at $A70B. This routine 
> does not store the final address read, but does store the block length at 
> $7D. The total number of blocks read is not stored.
>
> The above means that only if the ml program is less than 255 bytes in 
> length can one find where it has been loaded into memory. The load address 
> will be at $7E, the end address will be the start address plus the value 
> at $7D, and the exec address will be at $9D.
>
> My argument is that most ml programs of substance will be longer than 255 
> bytes. Therefore the only way to know where they should load and where the 
> last byte will be is to read the tape, block at a time, and keep track of 
> the addresses. The exec address will always be known as that is saved for 
> the EXEC command.
>
> I eagerly await pointers to sections of Basic code that show something 
> other than the above. That includes proving that cassette block lengths 
> can be longer than 255 bytes.
>
> -- 
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>